![]() The big question, say industry experts, is whether that is still possible if the airline is using printed boarding passes and matching bags to passengers. Southwest's low-cost model also depends on its planes arriving and departing within 20 minutes. In a report, Brian Harris, an analyst with Salomon Smith Barney, estimated that Southwest will spend more than $242 million a year on new security costs and insurance premiums. This could impact their costs moving forward," one industry analyst said. "With a paperless system, Southwest was able to save millions of dollars in costs other carriers had to spend. Rutherford declined to say what this nod to the new security environment will cost the airline, but some analysts said it could be a bundle. The plastic boarding passes were part of Southwest's innovative and relentless effort to keep costs and ticket fares low. That means that Southwest passengers arriving at the boarding gate these days receive both the plastic and cardboard boarding passes.īy June, the airline will eliminate the plastic cards, and the printed documents will also include the boarding number. ![]() Its open-seating process - or cattle call, as some travelers affectionately call it - will remain at the heart of its system.įor the past several weeks, both printed and plastic cards have been used as the new system is phased in. Southwest, however, has no plans to take the more radical step of assigning seats. If that were to happen, the luggage would be removed, she said. The printed boarding passes, which look similar to those used by many other airlines, will also enable Southwest to know if a person checked a bag but failed to board, said Rutherford. "We will know that the person who checked in at the gate and who has a paper boarding card is the same person boarding the plane," said Southwest spokeswoman Linda Rutherford. The goal is to make sure the carrier knows who is boarding its flights. Instead, passengers are receiving cardboard documents, displaying the passenger's name, date, flight origin and destination, flight number, and confirmation numbers. Each card contains a number that indicates to passengers in what order they can enter the plane. To address new security mandates, Southwest Airlines is tweaking its maverick boarding system.Īfter more than 30 years of use, Southwest is eliminating its brightly colored plastic boarding cards.
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